I have 3 years of experience (associate year 1) in a lower MM boutique (Europe based) and considering making a move to one of the big four (M&A - Corporate Finance) firms. At my current job, I get tons of responsibility in deal execution from which I learned a lot. However, there are a few aspects that motivate me to make a potential move to big 4: far better training programs (current training offerings are poor), larger deals & more PE exposure, opportunities to go abroad and a well-known name.
Eventually, I am considering making a move to PE, stay in M&A or start my own business. Any thoughts /advice?
What kind of training offerings at a big 4 firm do you expect to get? Also, a MM boutique is a MM boutique; its name stays street ahead of that of a big4 firm (when it comes to PE recruiting). If I were you, I'd try to make a move to a better MM shop or an EB.
@ibd_request": Thank you for the reply.
With regards to training, I expect them to pay more attention to (personal) development; that can be financial training, soft skills, etc. At my current firm, they pay very little attention to development (lack of resources), training, coaching, etc.
That being said, my current firm (based in the Benelux) operates at the lower end of the MM; most deals are around EUR 5 - 50m (also small fundraisings) and sometimes an outlier between EUR 50m - 200m. The big 4 firm where I have an interview scheduled operates in the range of EUR 40m - EUR 500m. That is the reason why I think this could be a good move (also regarding MM PE recruiting?) as they are quite dominant in the MM, in my country.
Besides deal size I also value work-life balance which will probably be worse if I move to a better MM bank; Houlihan, Lazard, Jefferies, etc. Current hours are around 50 hours in down-times and 60-70 in busy periods.
Edited. Shot me a PW for information.
Hi Ibd_request,
Thanks for sharing your experience.
Fair point with regards to training, I was indeed planning to mention that.
What they told me is that they do all the modelling work themselves, except large valuation assignments. But yes you will be working in ppt the majority of your time, nothing new for me there, same story at my current job. Where are you based, if I may ask.
Any other relevant experience / thoughts are more than welcome!
Best, Monkes
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